with David Blaska

Blaska is just the man to speak against ‘good government’

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It has been decided. The cause of good government is best served by adopting Iowa’s system of legislative redistricting and by gelding the First Amendment to prevent corporations from speaking 60 days before an election — with a generous carve-out for corporations like the Wisconsin State Journal, of course.

The newspaper’s Scott Milfred is moderating a panel at 6:30 this evening (Feb. 17) at Edgewood College, Madison. I intend to take a seat, however uninvited, next to Sen. Dale Schultz, Sen. Fred Risser, the League of (Liberal) Women Voters, and Mr. Jay Heck of Common Cause. Heck may think it’s hell but, dammit, college students should be exposed to both sides of an issue. Details here.

Alec Koch, come on down! The Cincinnati bureau of the IRS requires Blaska’s Bring It! to report that this blogge receives major funding from the third and most mysterious of the Koch Brothers, Alec. As luck would have it, Alec Koch is even more elusive than the Squire’s erstwhile aide de camp, Ruben Mamoulian (now believed residing in one of Madame Brenda’s Tiny Houses — the one with the TV satellite dish).

Well, burst my bubble and call it trouble. Turns out that the other two Koch Boys aren’t quite what the MSNBC ravers make them out to be.

In political giving over the last 25 years, turns out they rank number 59, with $18 million in political giving. (As the Beatles White Album would put it, “Number 59, Number 59, Number …”) Six of the top 10 are labor unions. They gave more than $278 million, with most of it going to Democrats: AFSCME ($60.6 million), NEA ($53.5 million), IBEW ($44.4 million), UAW ($41.6 million), Carpenters & Joiners ($39.2 million), and SEIU ($38.3 million).

Three of the remaining four slots in the top 10 were taken by AT&T ($56.4 million), the National Association of Realtors ($51.2 million), and Goldman Sachs ($44.8 million).

Progs didn’t bargain on workplace democracy—The Progressive magazine before last Friday opined, “If workers have a place at the bargaining table in the South, Republicans are doomed.”

Republicans need not worry, for workers at the VW plant in Chatanooga, Tenn., turned down membership in the UAW by a vote of 712 to 626 on Friday. They did so despite the unprecedented access the company gave union organizers — the UAW could work the shop floor. Can’t blame intimidation.

That won’t stop MSNBC, Comrade John, and the politburo from asking what’s the matter with Tennessee and blaming those troglodyte Southerners for voting against “their own best interests!”

VW allowed union organizers inside the plant. If they could promote the upside to unionization, why are other voices denied? And why does the NLRB allow workers’ councils only at unionized workplaces?

Dave, Southern Republicans didn't need to worry about that VW plant vote because they were the ones who supplied the intimidation tactics. Their state leggies said "No more incentives for YOU if you unionize!" and claimed other supply line businesses wouldn't locate there. The German VW management was fine with a union; they've had great success working with them in Germany. But what do we get from the GOP? Fear and loathing. Third world status, here we come.And yeah, ya think yanking $300 million of consumer spending out of our economy (hellooooo...Act 10) had anything to do with a retailer like American folding? No, of course you don't. Or at least you'd never admit it, because in Walker's Wisconsin, prosperity is just (always) around the corner.AnonyBob

Feb 17, 2014 12:16 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

How dare anyone criticize Dear Leader Kim Jung Obama's glorious programs? Dear Leader has liberated millions from the drudgery of gainful employment with his signature legislation, ObamaKare. More of the working class now are able to live their dreams of living on unemployment checks and food stamps. You may now gladly add almost a thousand more to that number as a company with the racially offensive name of "American" closes its doors for the good of the people.

All hail the Marxist vision of Dear Leader Obama as his regime liberates more of us from the shackles of jobs, cheap energy, home ownership and other material things.

Feb 17, 2014 12:21 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

Not to get off topic, but there's 4 more inches of global warming in my driveway and it's still coming down pretty heavy.

Feb 17, 2014 12:35 pm

Posted by
Normwegian

So, if VW unionized, the workers take an effective $3/hr cut in pay, then pay union dues, who comes out ahead? UAW. I love these "anonymous" postings. American TV started to go in the tank when Lenny sold out.

Feb 17, 2014 12:40 pm

Posted by
David Blaska

AnonyBoob keeps his promises (to go gently into that good night) like Dear Leader keeps his. Jim Doyle, is that you? First, I did not blame American TV's demise on Dear Leader. I asked, in effect, if Dems would support a bailout? Secondly, Wisconsin tax collections improved by about one billion dollars over previous year. That's a pretty good indicator that there is more money in peoples' pockets. Retail is a furiously competitive business. Just ask Montgomery Ward, Sears, Penney's, Woolworth, Marshall Fields, Schuster's, K-mart, Rennebohm's, Manchester's ... need I go on? Finally, Act 10 did not remove any money from the economy. None. Zero. From union coffers, yes, but not from taxpayers' wallets. As for VW Tennessee, do you really mean to say that the UAW doesn't use scare tactics?

Feb 17, 2014 12:53 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

Re: AnonyBobThat $300 million of consumer spending that was liberated by Act 10 is better off being spent by my family than by some pampered, unmotivated and overpaid teacher that only works 180 days of the year.

The money still gets spent, just not by bureaucracy loving, drum beating union drones and trolls. Your argument FAILS because real people benefit. They are called taxpayers and they shall carry the day because the idle grasshopper needs the ant. The industrious ant doesn't need the lazy grasshopper.

Feb 17, 2014 01:14 pm

Posted by
David Blaska

Good news. Jay Heck has just invited your humble Squire to participate in tonight's Good Government fracas at Edgewood College, 6:30 p.m. at Anderson Auditorium. I will take the "opposed" side.

Feb 17, 2014 02:34 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

Dave, sorry to disappoint, but this blog and it's rabid commenters (see: Anony 12:16 - comic gold!) are like a car wreck on the highway, I just can't tear my eyes away. And quit accusing me of being Jim Doyle, or anyone else. I'm nobody you know or have ever heard of, I'm just someone who pays attention to how things operate and I'm regularly appalled by how easily 'baggers and their fears are manipulated by the powerful. And you guys are dragging us all (civil society) down the tubes with you. Just keep that hate on teachers, policeman, nurses and snowplow drivers - yeah, they're your enemy. I've already left Walker-depressed Wisconsin (and from the outside it's even easier to see just how depressed and truly GOP-corrupt it is). Next I'm planning retirement somewhere sane - abroad, where high quality, single payer health care is reality, not a know-nothing conservative's boogeyman. Just ask the VW management.AnonyBob

Feb 17, 2014 03:14 pm

Posted by
jimri

Dave, I am in your corner almost all of the time, this blog post of your no exception, However, one thing about the bulge in tax receipts is the 2013 performance of the stock market. When we're getting an abnormal 25-45% increase in equities due to Obama's inflating of the economy (qualitative easing), this will put a bigger boost in revenues than the normal growth in the "regular" economy is providing.

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About This Blog

Raised on a farm near Sun Prairie, David Blaska is a recovering liberal who spent 18 years in daily newspapers, including 12 at The Capital Times in Madison as a reporter and editor. He served Gov. Tommy Thompson as acting press secretary in 1998 and is a veteran and survivor of 19 years in state government. He served 12 years on the Dane County Board of Supervisors. From December 2007 to November 2011 he wrote the consistently popular "Blaska's Blog" for Isthmus online's "The Daily Page" until, he says, the intolerant liberals ran him off. He blogs from Madison.